Ebonyi seeks NLC’s intervention in labour crisis

The Ebonyi State Government has reported the Chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Virginus Nwobodo to its national leadership in Abuja.

In a letter written to the national body and signed by the Special Assistant (SA) to the governor on Labour Relations, Mrs. Grace Chukwu, the government flayed the unwarranted attacks on Governor David Umahi by Nwobodo, saying it was capable of causing industrial disharmony between the government and its workers over the state’s new pension scheme.

The letter dated April 5 and addressed to the NLC General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson in Abakaliki said Nwobodo, who claimed to have represented the Zonal Chairman of the NLC (South East), Uchenna Obigwe, on a fact-finding mission over the contributory pension scheme, should be called to order.

“Virginus Nwobodo who claimed in a newspaper publication to be on trouble-shooting mission to Ebonyi State opted to make false allegations against Umahi and his administration over the issue of contributory pension scheme.

“Comrade Nwobodo showed open bias in his comments which are capable of causing disaffection between Government and its workers,” the letter reads in part.

She expressed surprise that Nwobodo did not consult her as a representative of government when he visited the state.

Chukwu wondered why somebody who came to Ebonyi State to “broker peace between two parties met only one party and drew conclusions.”

She therefore, called on the National President of NLC to warn the Enugu labour leader against any acts that could bring division between the state government and its workers.

She said: “It is also regrettable that a man who came to mediate in an issue never bothered to meet with the second party to the dispute, which is the state government, represented by my office.

“It is a common practice that a man seeking to mediate in a crisis does not look for who is at fault but in gathering facts and brokering peace among the parties. Comrade Nwobodo abandoned this truism by choosing to toe the part of partiality.”

She however, said she was happy that Ebonyi workers were totally in support of the new pension scheme.